RB Index, Week 9: Bears must lean equally on Khalil Herbert and David Montgomery

11/04/2021

Things are looking bleak for the Chicago Bears right now. They are coming off three straight losses with a road game at Pittsburgh on Monday night before their Week 10 bye. Rookie quarterback Justin Fields is experiencing growing pains while leading an offense that ranks in the bottom two of the league in scoring, total offense, passing, yards per play and sacks allowed.

On the outside of the playoff picture midway through the regular season, there’s still time to work their way back in. And if they have any hope of a better second half of the season, they need to lean heavily on one of the few offensive bright spots: the run game.

The Bears’ rushing attack ranks fifth in the league thanks in large part to the efforts of David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert. In Weeks 1-4, Montgomery logged a pair of 100-yard performances and three rush touchdowns before a knee sprain landed him on injured reserve. Despite losing their RB1, who’s coming off a 1,000-yard season, the Bears haven’t seen a drop-off from Week 5 on with Herbert handling a majority of the load. The sixth-round pick has racked up 351 rush yards (fifth among rookies) and 395 scrimmage yards (sixth) despite only having three touches in the first four weeks.

Montgomery is eligible to return from IR this week, and head coach Matt Nagy told reporters the third-year RB is improving every day and that the team is working through his status for Monday’s game. As for Herbert — I’m going to be honest here — I wasn’t all that high on him coming out of Virginia Tech, ranking him 27th among RBs in the 2021 rookie class. However, he’s shown some quickness and the ability to gain chunk yards as a slasher at the next level. Since Week 5, Herbert has 344 rush yards (86 per game), the fourth-most in that span behind Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor and Damien Harris.

Top 15 running backs

Former NFL rushing leader and NFL Network analyst Maurice Jones-Drew will survey all running backs and rank his top 15 each week of the 2021 season. His rankings are based on this season’s efforts alone. Here is MJD’s list heading into Week 9.

NOTE: Arrows reflect changes from last week’s rankings.

The Titans are currently the top seed in the AFC after defeating the Colts in overtime. Unfortunately, they’ve lost their most valuable player to a broken foot. Henry underwent surgery on Tuesday and there is no timetable for his return. You never want to see anyone get hurt, and that’s especially true when the player is having such an incredible season.

While Zeke’s numbers weren’t anything special in Dallas’ prime-time win over Minnesota, he made one of the biggest plays of the game when the Cowboys’ backs were against the wall. Trailing by three and already in field goal range, Zeke broke several tackles after catching a short pass from Cooper Rush to earn a first down on third-and-11. The effort set up a game-winning touchdown on the next play.

Taylor has gone on a tear over his last five games, averaging 95.6 rush yards per game and scoring six rush TDs. He’s one of the most explosive rushers in the league right now. He ranks in the top five in rushing yards over expected on runs both inside (+60) and outside (+123) the tackles among rushers with a minimum of 40 such attempts, per Next Gen Stats. The Colts can’t ask for much more from their second-year back. It’s time for Carson Wentz to step up.

Kamara might be taking on the greatest challenge of his career with Trevor Siemian replacing the injured Jameis Winston. The running back is going to get a ton of attention from opposing defenses, but the offense’s success will go hand-in-hand with how Kamara performs. He’s also likely to get more action in the pass game and fewer carries moving forward with Mark Ingram back in the mix.

The Bengals’ run game was stuffed by the Jets with Mixon gaining just 33 yards on 14 carries. He did score a pair of touchdowns (one rush, one receiving) to extend his streak to five consecutive games with a scrimmage TD.

Jones played an instrumental role in Green Bay’s victory over Arizona in prime time, finishing with 59 rush yards and one rush TD while also leading the short-handed Packers with a career-high 11 targets and seven receptions for 51 receiving yards. It speaks volumes about Jones’ ability as a pass catcher that he was the only Packer with at least one target from four different alignments Thursday (backfield, wide, slot, tight), per NGS.

The key to the Steelers’ offensive success is Harris, and the proof is in the pudding. The rookie running back has had at least 20 carries in each of the team’s last three games (all wins), including a career-high 26 carries for 91 yards and a TD in Sunday’s big win over Cleveland.

While Cook averaged 4.3 yards per carry on 18 attempts against the Cowboys, the Vikings royally struggled to get anything going in the passing game. Minnesota is in trouble at 3-4 with a game against Baltimore up next. One thing we’ll see in that tilt, however, is a rushing clinic from Cook and Ravens QB Lamar Jackson.

Henderson is coming off his best game of the season with a season-high 90 rush yards (6.4 yards per carry) and two scrimmage TDs (one rush, one receiving) against the Houston Texans. The Rams’ offense has been lopsided all season long with Matthew Stafford and the passing attack far out-producing and out-ranking the run game. Now, I’m looking for Henderson to build off his Week 8 outing, but it won’t be easy against a Titans team that boasts the league’s eighth-best run defense.

Ekeler played well coming off the bye week against the Patriots, racking up 124 scrimmage yards and a rushing touchdown. He now has seven scrimmage TDs since Week 3, second to only James Conner‘s eight in that span. Ekeler’s doing what he can to lift the Chargers and, like Taylor in Indy, needs help from his QB.

Robinson suffered a heel injury against the Seahawks and is now listed as day to day. The Jags better hope Robinson is on the field if they have any intention of moving the chains against Sean McDermott’s Bills squad on Sunday.

The Bucs too often rely on Tom Brady and the pass game when in reality they should turn to their deep backfield to move the ball, control the clock and put points on the board. I’m not saying they need to be a run-first team, but having Brady throw the ball 40 or more times a game isn’t always the answer — it wasn’t vs. the Saints. Fournette has worked his tail off to earn the RB1 job and has the ability to get it done on the ground.

On Thursday night, Conner did what Conner does best — get in the end zone. He had a 2-yard TD run in the third quarter and a 9-yard TD run in the fourth, bringing his season total to eight rush TDs. That’s second to only Derrick Henry. The Conner signing is turning out to be very valuable for Kliff Kingsbury.

Harris has impressed over his last three games, rushing for at least 75 yards and a touchdown in each. In total, he’s racked up 287 yards and four rush touchdowns in Weeks 6-8 — a major help for rookie quarterback Mac Jones. Harris is keeping the Patriots’ offense on the field while moving the chains with his consistent play. They have a legit path to the postseason if Harris, Jones and the offense continue to play this way.

Jacobs returned to practice Wednesday after suffering a chest injury in Week 7. Derek Carr is having one of his best seasons, but Las Vegas ranks 29th in the league in rushing and the QB could use more help from the ground game. A healthy and productive Jacobs could be key to getting back to the playoffs.

DROPPED OUT: Tony Pollard, Cowboys (previously No. 14).

Follow Maurice Jones-Drew on Twitter.

The Ground Index presented by FedEx ranks NFL running back performances all season long. Check out the weekly FedEx Air NFL Players of the Week and cast your vote after Sunday Night Football.

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RB Index, Week 9: Bears must lean equally on Khalil Herbert and David Montgomery

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Top 15 running backs